Cyprus

The country of Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and located west of Syria and south of Turkey. The island has a surface area of 9,251 square kilometer and has a maximum length of about 225 km from Cape Andreas in the north-east to the western extremity of the island. It lies in the north-eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea approximately centered on latitude 35 degrees north and longitude 33 degrees east.

The island is divided into four geological zones; the Pentadaktylos Zone or Kyrenia, the Troodos Zone or Troodos Ophiolite, the Mamonia Zone or Complex, and the Zone of the autochthonous sedimentary rocks. The capital and largest city of the country is Nicosia. Since 1974, the northern third of Cyprus has been occupied by Turkish troops and has formed, de facto, a separate state.

The country is a former British colony which gained independence in 1960 following years of resistance to British rule. Tensions between the Greek Cypriot majority and Turkish Cypriot minority came to a head in December 1963, when violence broke out in the capital of Nicosia. In 1983, the Turkish-held area declared itself the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” but it is recognized only by Turkey. When the Greek Cypriots rejected the UN settlement plan in an April 2004 referendum, the latest two-year round of talks between the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities to reach an agreement to reunite the divide island vanished.

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